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^v*o^ 




Title 



LC 



M. 



Imprint 



16—47372-3 GPO 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

U' BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN. 1921, No. 3 



PART-TIME EDUCATION OF 
VARIOUS TYPES 



A REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON 
THE REORGANIZATION OF SECOND- 
ARY EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE 
NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1921 






ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PEOCUEED FROM 

THE SUPEEINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

"WASHINGTON, D. C. 

AT 

5 CENTS PER COPY 



Lmmm of coH§m 




THE REVIEWING COMMITTEE OF THE COMMISSION ON THE 
REORGANIZATION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION. 

(The Reviewing Comnaittee consists of 26 members, of whom 16 are chairmen of 
committees and 10 are members at large.) 

Chcdrman of the Commission and of the Reviewing Committee: 

Clarence D. Kingsley, State high-school supervisor, Boston, Mass. 
Members at large: 

Hon. P. P. Claxton, late Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C. 

Thomas H. Briggs, professor of (secondary) education. Teachers College, 
Columbia University, New York City. 

Alexander Inglis, professor of (secondary) education. Harvard University. 

Henry Neumann, Ethical Culture School, New York City. 

William Orr, senior educational secretary, international Y. M. C. A. com- 
mittee, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City. 

William B. Owen, principal of Chicago Normal College, Chicago, 111. 

J. J. Didcoct, professor of secondary education, George Peabody College for 
■ Teachers, Nashville, Tenn. 

Joseph S. Stewart, professor of secondary education, University of Georgia. 

Milo H. Stuart, principal of Technical High School, Indianapolis, Ind. 

H. L. Terry, State high-school supervisor, Madison, Wis. 
Chaitmen of Committees: 

Organization and Administration of Secondary Education — Charles H, 
Johnston, professor of secondary education, University of Illinois.^ 

Agriculture — A. V. Storm, professor of agricultural education, University 
of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. 

Art Education — Royal B. Farnum, president. Mechanics Institute, Roches- 
ter, N. Y. 

Articulation of High School and College — Clarence D. Kingsley, State high- 
school supervisor, Boston, Mass. 

Business Education — Cheesman A. Herrick, president, Girard College, Phila- 
delphia. Pa. 

Classical Languages — W. E. Foster, Stuyvesant High School, New York City. 

English — ^James Fleming Hoiic, professor of education. Teachers College, 
Columbia University, New York City. 

Household Arts — Mrs. Henrietta Calvin, United States Bureau of Educa- 
tion. - 

Industrial Arts — Wilson H. Henderson, extension division, University of 
Wisconsin, Milwaukee', Wis. (now Major, Sanitary Corps, War Depart- 
ment, U. S. A.). 

Mathematics — William Heard Kilpatrick, professor of education, Teachers 
College, Columbia University, New York City. 

Modern Languages — Edward Manley, Englewood High School, Chicago, 111. 

Music — Will Earhart, director of music, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Physical Education — James H. McCurdy, director of normal courses of 
physical education. International Y. M. C. A. College, Springfield, Mass. 

Sciences — Otis W. Caldwell, director, Lincoln School, and professor of edu- 
cation, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. 

Social Studies — Thomas Jesse Jones, educational director, Phelps- Stokes 
Foundation, New York City. 

Vocational Guidance — Frank M. Leavitt, associate superintendent of 
schools, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

1 Deceased, Sept. 4. 1917- 



REPORTS OF THE COMMISSION ON THE REORGANIZATION OF SEC- 
ONDARY EDUCATION. 

The following reports of the commission have been issued as bulletins of the 
United States Bureau of Education and may be procured from the Superin- 
tendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C, at the 
prices stated. Prices in quantity are subject to change. Remittance should 
be made in coin or money order. Other reports of the commission are in 
preparation. 

ORDER LANK 

Superintendent of Documents, 
Washington, D. C 
Dear Sir : 

Enclosed please find money order for dollars ($ - - ), 

for which please send me the following Educational Bulletins. In case the bul- 
letins requested are out of stock please fill the order as soon as the new stock is 
available. 

Prices per copy 



No. of 
copies 


EDUCATION BULLETIN 


Less 
than 50 


50 or 
more 


$ 


CTS. 




1918, No. 35, Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education 


5c 


3e 








1915, No. 23, The Teaching of Community Civics 


10 


5 








1916, No. 28, The Social Studies in Secondary Education 


10 


6 








1917, No. 2, Reorganization of English in Secondary Schools 


20 


15 








1917, No. 49, Music in Secondary Schools 


5 


4 








1917, No. 50, Physical Education in Secondary Schools 


5 


3 








1917, No. 51, Moral Values in Secondary Education 


5 


4 








1918, No. 19, Vocational Guidance in Secondary Education 


5 


3 








1919, No. 55, Business Education in Secondary Schools 


10 


5 








1920, No. 1, The Problem of Mathematics in Secondary Educa- 
tion 


5 


3 








1920, No. 26, Reorganization of Science in Secondary Schools 


10 


3 








1920, No. 35, Agi'iculture in Secondary Schools 


5 


3 








1921, No. 5, Part-time Education of Various Types 


5 


3 








Total 









Name- 



Address- 



(Prices in quantity are subject to change.) 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Membership of reviewing committee ± 3 

List of reports of tlie commission 1 4 

Preface 6 

I. Introduction 7 

1. Need for part-time and continuation education 7 

2. Steps taken by tlie industries 7 

3. Steps tliat should be taken by the public schools 8 

4. Continuous registration : 8 

II. Types of part-time education 9 

1. Occasional types jl 9 

2. Regular types 10 

III. Administration of occasional types 11 

1. Seasonal employment 11 

2. Unrelated employment 11 

3. Related optional employment 11 

4. Related required employment 12 

IV. Educational and vocational guidance 12 

1. Director of vocational guidance 12 

2. Vocational counselors 14 

3. Scope of vocational guidance 14 

V. Administration of continuation groups 15 

1. Location of continuation group 15 

2. Educational objectives 17 

VI. Summary of recommendations 19 

Appendix A — Types of part-time education recognized by Federal act 20 

Appendix B — Summary of continuation education laws in 18 States 22 

5 



PREFACE. 



The traditional secondary school limited its instruction to full- 
time pupils. Eather than adapt the kind and amount of work to the 
necessities of the pupil who can not attend on full time, it apparently 
preferred to have him leave school altogether. While frowning upon 
an elective system within the school, it felt no qualms in allowing the 
great elective — no attendance or full attendance. The modern sec- 
ondary school aims to give all pupils of high-school age all the 
instruction that they can be induced to secure. Society itself is 
demanding that no pupil of high-school age shall be without 
instruction. 

The Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education 
presents in this report various types of part-time education, includ- 
ing continuation classes, and indicates some of the administrative 
features desirable. This report is based largely upon a helpful analy- 
sis made in 1918 for the High School Masters' Club of Massachusetts 
by a committee consisting of the following high-school principals : 
Howard Conant, of Holyoke, chairman ; Oscar Gallagher, of West 
Eoxbury, Boston, secretary; Albert B. Kimball, of Fairhaven; and 
Charles F. Warner, of Springfield. The original report was re- 
organized and amplified by Edward Rynearson, director of vocational 
guidance and principal of the Fifth Avenue High School of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., and a member of the committee on administl-ation of sec- 
ondary schoqls of this commission. After discussion and revision it 
was approved by the reviewing committee of the commission. 

Approval by the reviewing committee, however, does not commit 
every member individually to every statement and every implied 
educational doctrine, but it does mean essential agreement as a com- 
mittee with the general recommendations. 

Clarence D. Kingslet, 

Chairman of the Commission. 
6 



PART-TIME EDUCATION OF VARIOUS TYPES. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 

1. Need for fart-time and contiiivAition education. — The require- 
ments for attendance at school vary greatly in different States. In 
some States they are so low that a pupil may leave school at the age 
of 14 if only he has completed the fourth grade. In other States a 
pupil can not leave school under the age of 18 unless he has com- 
pleted the entire eight grades of elementary schooling. 

Taking the country as a whole, probably not more than one-half 
of the total number of young people between the ages of 14 and 16, 
and not more than one-fourth of those between 16 and 18, are in 
school. In other words, the problem of providing part-time and 
continuation education involves the welfare of as many pupils be- 
tween the ages of 14 and 16 and of three times as many between 16 
and 18 as are now in school in those age groups. 

In the years from 14 to 18 ideas and ideals are changing from the 
plastic to the fixed, from the temporary to the permanent. It is 
evident, therefore, from the importance of the period and from the 
large number of young persons involved, that the development of 
wise and comprehensive plans of part-time and continuation educa- 
tion is vitally important to the industrial, social, and civic life of 
State and Nation. 

2. Steps taken ty the industries. — Continuation education has been 
recognized as desirable by many large employers of labor. Some 
have already established, and others have plans to establish, schools 
connected with or situated inside their own plants. In some fac- 
tories attendance is required; in others it is optional. In some the 
instruction is given in the late afternoon or in the evening ; in others 
it is given within the working day. In some industries the em- 
ployees are paid for the time of attendance as though they were 
at work; in others they receive no pay for the time in school. 

The lack of uniformity and the fact that only a few employers 
provide any such system of instruction make legislation necessary. 
Moreover, the work done in schools connected with the industries 
should be under public supervision, so that the technical instruction 
may be balanced by the training for broader and better citizenship. 

7 



8 PAET-TIMB EDUCATIOlSr OF VARIOUS TYPES. 

Welfare departments, workers' insurance, profit sharing, and other 
social and economic benefits are features of many manufacturing 
and commercial corporations. These measures are good, but are 
secondary rather than fundamental. To secure intelligent work- 
manship we must have trained workmen, but we need not only better 
production but also better citizenship. 

3. Steps that should he taken hy the public schools. — In the first 
place the schools should reorganize present courses of study and 
revitalize methods of instruction so that a larger proportion of both 
the pupils and their parents may be convinced that full-time at- 
tendance at school is worth while. The leading causes for leaving 
school are as follows: 

First, tlie limited range of instruction commonly offered by secondary schools ; 
second, the failure on tlie part of the school adequately to demonstrate to 
young people and their parents the value of the education offered ; third, the 
lure of employment, together with the desire for increased economic inde- 
pendence on the part of young persons ; and fourth, economic pressure in the 
family, real or imagined. To this list of causes may be added failure to pass 
in school work. Many such failures, however, are due to a loss of interest in 
school work because its worthwhileness is not evident, or to the failure of the 
school to adapt its work to individual differences. 

The next step to be taken by the school is to make it as easy for 
the boy or girl to return to school as it was for him to leave. Fre- 
quently boys and girls who have wished to return have found that 
the dates of reorganization of the school program made it im- 
possible for them to do so to advantage until the beginning of a new 
school year. By that time they were quite likely to have lost their 
desire to reenter. 

In the third place, school administrators should devise plans 
whereby pupils who desire to engage in part-time, temporary, sea- 
sonal, or emergency employment may be permitted to do so without 
dropping out of school. When the employment is in a field in which 
they are later to enter or is related to the work for which they are 
preparing, such part-time, seasonal, or emergency employment may 
be extremely valuable by affording a basis of experience which will 
make their school work more intelligent and profitable. 

In the fourth place, legislation should be enacted and provisions 
should be made by the public schools for effective part-time and 
continuation education of all persons 14 to 18 years of age who have 
regularly entered upon employment. 

4. Continuous registration. — With the enactment of adequate com- 
pulsory school legislation, including the provision for part-time and 
continuation attendance, it should be possible to bring about a con- 
dition whereby all young people up to 18 years of age, with the 
possible exception of those who have graduated from the secondary 



PAET-TIME EDUCATION OF VARIOUS TYPES. 9 

school, should be enrolled as members of the school. Then will the 
phrase " dropping out of school " disappear from our vocabulary, 
in view of the fact that it would no longer be possible. Under this 
plan the only option would be for a pupil to transfer from full-time 
to part-time, or conversely, from part-time to full-time. Much of 
the reluctance to return to school would also disappear, as it would 
only be necessary for the employed person desiring more schooling 
to change his enrollment from part-time to full-time. 

In a city or district served by a comprehensive high school it 
would follow that every young person in that district of high-school 
age would be a member of one high school. Thus the school would 
be a genuine common school. Such a school under competent leader- 
ship would be the most potent institution for promoting social soli- 
darity ever devised by any nation. 

II. TYPES OF PART-TIME EDUCATION.' 

Part-time education is used in this report in a wide sense. Vari- 
ous types may be distinguished according to the nature of the work 
or according to the administrative features. On the whole, it ap- 
pears easier to assume a division according to the administrative 
basis and to deal with two groups which may be broadly distin- 
guished as occasional and regular. 

1. OCCASIONAL TYPES. 

The occasional types of part-time education may be subdivided 
into Type A, Seasonal emploj^ment, and Types B, C, and D, which 
may be regarded as Incidental employment. The latter groups may 
be further respectively designated as unrelated employment, related 
optional employment, and related required employment. The fol- 
lowing summary will make clear some of the difficulties in discussing 
the question of part-time education. Principals and teachers often 
apply to the problem as a whole solutions that deal with only one 
phase. 

1. Type A — Seasonal Employment: Includes those pupils, prin- 
cipally members of the graduating class, who find positions open to 
them on condition that they leave school within the last three months 
before the actual time of graduation. It also includes those pupils 
who are needed in agricultural pursuits in the spring and fall. In 
arranging for such employment most careful consideration should 
be given to the requirements of the position and to the capacity of 
the boy or girl to meet these requirements. 

1 The Federal Board for Vocational Education groups all part-time schools or classes 
under three types : Trade extension, trade preparatory, and general continuation. For 
an explanation of these consult Appendix A. 

52708°— 21 2 



10 PART-TIME EDUCATION OF VARIOUS TYPES. 

2. Tyfe B — Unrelated Employment: This group includes all 
pupils who are obliged to be absent from portions of the school day 
in order to carry on some work in home, farm, or industry. It is 
assumed that such employment is necessary from a financial point of 
view, in order that the pupil may continue in school. It is also 
assumed that such employment is not directly related to the instruc- 
tion the pupil is receiving. 

3. Type C — Related Optional Employnnent: This group includes 
those pupils who from time to time as opportunities arise are dis- 
missed from some of their studies for employment closely connected 
with their school work. It includes, for example, pupils who may be 
detailed to act as clerical assistants in elementary schools. 

4. Type D — Related Required Employinent: This group includes 
pupils who are expected to supplement the theoretical instruction in 
the school with actual office, factory, store, homemaking, or agricul- 
tural practice. Many of these pupils are assigned to such work only 
during the vacations ; others for a single clay a week. It is an essen- 
tial part of the program laid out for these pupils, but is a type of 
part-time work, since it takes them out of the school for a part of the 
time. 

2. REGULAR TYPES. 

Under the head of regular part-time education there are three 
types, Type E — Alternating Attendance and Employment ; Type F — 
Four-fifths of Time in School ; and Type G— Continuation Attend- 
ance. > 

Type E — Alternating Attendance and Employment: This plan 
applies to pupils pursuing industrial courses in which the programs 
are so arranged that the pupils are alternately' — by weeks, days, or 
half days — in school and in shop or office. 

Type F — Four-fifths of Time in School: This plan applies to pupils 
who are studying salesmanship. They attend school the first four 
days of the week and go to the store on Fridays and Saturdays for 
their laboratory work. While this is similar to the plan described 
under Type D, it occupies a regular place in the schedule of many 
high schools. 

TyjJe G — Continuation Attendance: This plan applies to pupils 
engaged in industry and obliged to spend a stipulated number of 
hours weekly in school. 

In contrast to this classification it is interesting to note that the 
term " part-time " is sometimes applied to Type E only. No discus- 
sion of part-time education is at all adequate when restricted to the 
one type. 



PAKT-TIME EDUCATION" OF VARIOUS TYPES. 11 

III. ADMINISTRATION OF OCCASIONAL TYPES. 

The problems that face high-school principals in part-time educa- 
tion are those of administration. To what extent must provisions be 
made for the occasional types, and to what extent must cooperative 
responsibility be assumed for the regular types ? 

Type A — Seasonal Employment: In every school excellent posi- 
tions are available to high-school seniors who can leave school before 
the date of graduation. It is unjust to hold prospective graduates in 
school until the excellent positions which are open in such numbers 
in the spring are filled ; and it is uneconomic to have these positions 
filled by persons less efficient than niembers of the graduating class. 

For the pupil who is placed in such a position, the time between 
such placement and graduation should be a probationary period dur- 
ing which the employer and the principal or other school official are 
in close touch with the progress of the pupil. Where the work is 
satisfactory the pupil should receive his credits or diploma as though 
he were in regular school attendance ; where unsatisfactory the pupil 
should be required to return to school and arrangements be made for 
his doing additional school work to make up the time lost while he 
was in employment. 

The pupil so placed in employment can be made to feel that the 
time, effort, and interest put into his work is to be as much a part of 
his school record as was his study, attendance, and deportment while 
in school. 

In Type B — Unrelated Employment^ the number will vary so 
greatly that there can be no uniform adjustment of the schedule. 
Some pupils have to work every afternoon throughout the j^^ear; 
others for only part of the year ; still others for only certain after- 
noons in each week. The committee believes that every encourage- 
ment should be given to such pupils to continue their membership in 
school. The all-too-common attitude toward withdrawal from school 
in case an individual can not conform to the prescribed daily limits 
should be abandoned. When it is shown that pupils have to leave be- 
fore the close of the school day it may be possible to arrange a special 
schedule according to which the regular work of four years may be 
stretched over five. Thus pupils may be free from the stigma of 
failure or from bad effects of attempting more than can be well done. 
Meeting the needs of such pupils may interfere with the operation 
of a rotating program, such as is now in vogue in some high schools, 
but in most high schools the fixed program is probably the better 
arrangement. If rotation programs are desirable, such rotation may 
be confined to the forenoon session. 

Tyjje G — Related Optional Employment offers a problem that must 
be settled according to the exigencies of the case. The length of the 



12 PART-TIME EDUCATION OF VARIOUS TYPES. 

assignment, the interval at which demands are made, and the number 
of pupils vary so greatly that no definite program can be arranged 
in advance. With almost no warning a group of boys are invited to 
help in taking stock; three girls are requested to take charge of a 
luncheon ; two others have a chance to fit a dress or trim a hat. If it 
is likely, however, that the work is to be of a secretarial nature, 
purely secretarial subjects may be assigned to hours at the close of 
the day, in order that while securing practice in clerical work pupils 
may not lose essential instruction in academic subjects. Special 
classes should be arranged where the size of groups permits, in which 
intensive instruction may be given to make up unrelated school work 
lost on account of part-time employment. 

Type D — Related Required Employment is the type of work to 
which the term " laboratory " is applied in many schools. Most of 
this work should be done outside of school hours. Whenever it is 
done during school hours special provision should be made for such 
pupils by classes or groups so that they will not lose the class in- 
struction, 

IV. EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. 

It is safe to assume that many will transfer from an occasional to 
a regular type. In such case the work of the vocational supervisor 
hereinafter described becomes very important. In all i^art-time work 
he has the duties of a coordinator, arranging the quota of pupils that 
are to be had at alternate intervals, looking with great care to their 
physical and moral welfare in the establishments in which they are 
working, and also cooperating with the principal to see that the work 
done in the school is adapted to make the actual vocational progress 
of the pupil rapid. It must be remembered that in the occasional 
types of part-time work the pupils are getting varied experience 
which may help them in their life work, while in the regular types 
of part-time education it is assumed that the pupil is actually start- 
ing upon his life work. The fact, too, that his pay is to increase with 
his proficiency, and that his proficiency is to be increased by the 
proper sort of supplementary instruction given in school, points 
out the absolute value of a well-trained vocational supervisor. 

1. DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE, 

The success of the plans for part-time education will depend in 
no small measure upon the inauguration of an effective and compre- 
hensive plan of vocational guidance. Generally speaking, the boys 
and girls who are leaving school need guidance in the selection of 
work. Many of them come from homes where little or no attention 
is given to vocations. They accept the job that offers the highest 



PAET-TIME EDUCATION OF VARIOUS TYPES. 13 

initial wages and do not consider the prospects of promotion. Miles, 
of Wisconsin, says that 87 per cent of these children enter " blind- 
alley " jobs. If any class of people ever need the protecting arm 
and the guiding hand of a true friend, it is these children when they 
leave their schoolmates and devoted teachers to enter the workaday 
world. These are the persons who are in special need of vocational 
guidance. Early in the grades, not long before they begin to plan 
to quit school, these children should receive educational and voca- 
tional guidance. The more money, time, and thought spent in proper 
guidance of these before they reach the age of 16, the less will be 
the cost to society for correction, punishment, and mere inefficiency 
later. 

Employment experiences may be of value as a basis for helping 
the pupil to a wise choice of vocation. In such cases it is of the 
greatest importance that some one person in the school should help 
the pupil to profit by these experiences. Has he the aptitudes re- 
quired in this general field? In what particular subdivision of the 
field would he succeed best? Is the vocation one which will call 
forth his best development? Would some other vocation be better 
for him ? 

These and many similar questions should be referred to the di- 
rector of the department of vocational guidance. It should be his 
principal duty to help develop the sympathy and cooperation of all 
teachers with vocational guidance. He should be able to show how 
the school system, as well as the courses of instruction, should func- 
tion in educational and vocational guidance. In order that the work 
should be uniformly well done and that each school may know what 
is being done, he should have frequent and regular conferences of the 
counselors or representatives from each district or building. The 
director and those associated with him should be able to give valuable 
suggestions to those who frame the course of study. 

When a choice of vocation has been made, the employment should 
be in the same field as the vocation chosen, and the experience should 
be utilized as a basis for the vocational education offered this pupil 
in the school. To accomplish this result, some person connected with 
the school must study the pupil at work so as to help him to profit 
from his successes and failures and to connect up the school instruc- 
tion, so far as it is vocational, with the practical work. 

Again, the wise placement of pupils in part-time employment ne- 
cessitates a close acquaintance with the occupations of the community. 
Some one must know the employers and their needs. He must tact- 
fully establish helpful cooperative relations with such employers and 
at the same time know individually the pupils who are likely to meet 
the needs of the employer. 



14 PAKT-TIME EDUCATION OF VAKIOUS TYPES. 

2. VOCATIONAL COUNSELORS. 

The director of the department of vocational guidance should have 
assistants according to the amount of work assigned to his depart- 
ment. It is necessary that every high and elementary school should 
have a vocational counselor. 

In the small school these duties may be performed by the school 
principal, or by some one teacher especially suited to the work by 
temperament and interest. But such a teacher should fit himself or 
herself for the work by taking courses in vocational guidance and 
employment supervision and should also have a reduced schedule 
of teaching. In the medium-sized high school one person should 
devote his or her entire time to the work. In the large coeducational 
high school there should be a man to look after and help boys, and 
a woman for the girls. 

The duties of a counselor in vocational guidance should include 
the following: 

1. Giving advice to individual pupils, but not making actual de- 
cisions for them. 

2. Helping pupils to find employment and helping employers to 
find pupils with the proper qualifications. 

3. Visiting pupils at work. 

4. Helping teachers of vocational subjects to connect their instruc- 
tion with the employment experiences and needs of the pupils. 

5. Cooperating with the parent and child — 

(1)" In discovering and developing that ability of every boy 
and girl that will give him the greatest economic and 
social returns. 

(2) In knowing the requirements and training for various 
occupations, the qualities necessary for success, the de- 
mand and supply of workers, positions, pay, and future 
in them. 

3. SCOPE OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. 

In other words a comj)lete vocational guidance program may be 
said to involve the following eight steps : 

1. Survey of the world's work. 

2. Studying and testing pupil's possibilities. 

3. Guidance in choice and rechoice of vocation. 

4. Guidance. with reference to preparation for vocation. 

5. Guidance in entering upon work ; that is " placement." 

6. Guidance in employment ; that is, " employment supervision." 

7. Progressive modification of school practices, 

8. Progressive modification of- economic conditions. 

For an analysis of these eight steps the committee would refer to 
Bulletin 19 for 1918 of the United States Bureau of Education en- 



PAET-TIME EDUCATIOlvr OF VARIOUS TYPES. 15 

titled, " Vocational Guidance in Secondary Education." (A Report 
of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education.) 
The foregoing analysis shows that emplo^^ment supervision is but 
one aspect of vocational guidance and that all phases of vocational 
guidance are so closely related that they should be under the same 
counselor in each school or director for the entire city. 

V. ADMINISTRATION OF CONTINUATION GROUPS. 

In Group G — Continuation Attendance — we have the largest num- 
ber of persons involved and the most important problems to con- 
sider. The welfare of the iState, economic and civic, is to depend in 
no small measure upon the provisions for this group. So vital are 
these needs that during one year (1918) 16 states^ passed compulsory 
part-time school laws. The value of this legislation depends on the 
way in which these laws are enforced and the provisions made by 
the schools. Many States of the North and West have already in- 
cluded similar measures on their programs for legislation within the 
next two years. It seems likely that within a short time every State 
in the Union will enact compulsory part-time attendance laws. 
There is also a tendency to raise the age-limit of attendance upon 
part-time classes. The hours per week of required attendance vary 
from four to eight. 

A large enrollment in the continuation classes of any city, however, 
is cause for inquiry as to whether the full-time education offered by 
that city is properly adapted to the needs of the pupils. As long as 
the instruction offered by the school meets the needs of the pupils 
and the financial circumstances of the family permit, children should 
be urged to remain in school on full time. Part time should be re- 
garded as the last resort. 

I. LOCATION or CONTINUATION GROUP. 

Where, in the school system, should the continuation group be 
located — in elementary schools, in high schools, or in separate and 
distinct continuation schools? 

In most States none of the children attending continuation classes 
are under 14 years of age. Some of them had entered the high school 
before they left school to go to work; others had not completed 
the elementary school ; and, in States where the law does not require 
the completion of the sixth grade, some were in the sixth or even a 
lower grade. But children of 14 years of age and over are properly 
of high-school age. More and more emphasis is now being placed 
upon the importance of recognizing age as a factor in determining 
the admission of pupils to junior and senior high schools. This com- 

2 A brief summary of tlie laws of these States will toe found in Appendix B. 



16 PART-TIME EDUCATIOlSr OF VARIOUS TYPES. 

mission in its report on Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education^ 
^states : 

We recommend that secondary schools admit, and provide suitable instruc- 
tion for, all pupils who are in any respect so mature that they would derive 
more benefit from the secondary school than from the elementary school. 

Clearly, therefore, these children do not belong in elementary 
schools and should not be grouped with the children in those schools. 

Furthermore, this commission in its report on Cardinal Principles 
of Secondary Education urges that the continuation group be organ- 
ized as one of the groups in comprehensive high schools and not 
organized as a wholly independent or separate school, giving the 
following reasons therefor: 

In view of the importance of developing a sense of common interest and social 
solidarity on the part of the young worker and those of his fellows who are 
continuing in full-time, attendance at school, it appears to this commission that 
this part-time education should be conducted in the comprehensive secondary 
school rather than in separate continuation schools as is the custom in less 
democratic societies. By this plan the part-time students and the full-time 
students may share in the use of the assembly hall, gymnasium, and other 
equipment provided for all. This plan has the added advantage that the enroll- 
ment of all pupils may be continuous in the secondary school, thus furthering 
employment supervision on the one hand and making easier a return to full- 
time attendance whenever the lure of industry or the improvement of economic 
conditions in the family makes such a return inviting and feasible. 

' At first sight it would appear that the inclusion of a continuation 
department would complicate the administration of a comprehensive 
high school. A true comprehensive high school, however, can no 
longer hold to a short, fixed school day for all pupils. Its facilities 
must be available at whatever times the needs of any important group 
of part-time pupils may require. In reality the presence of these 
pupils will stimulate the comprehensive high school to broaden the 
conception of its function, so that it will be helped to serve all its 
pupils more effectively. The importance of employment supervision 
also will be more clearly recognized. 

In recommending that the continuation group be organized as a 
department of a comprehensive high school — 

It is assumed that the principal of a modern comprehensive high 
school is a man of broad vision and sympathies and consequently 
will be interested in helping to meet the varied needs of the continua- 
tion pupils. 

It is assumed that the principal will organize each important 
group, such as the continuation group, under competent leadership, 
and at the same time develop, in so far as possible, the sense of social 
solidarity in the entire student body. 

It is assumed that the principal will give the director of the con- 
tinuation group whatever freedom he may need in working out his 

3 Bull. 35 for 1918, U. S. Bu. of Educ. 



PAET-TIME EDUCATION" OF VARIOUS TYPES. 17 

problems, assisting him in such ways as a broad administrator can 
assist a competent specialist. 

It is assumed that the continuation group will be instructed by 
teachers selected for their sympathetic insight into the problems of 
these pupils. 

The chief arguments, therefore, for making the continuation group 
a department of a comprehensive high school rather than placing it 
in a separate, unrelated organization may be summarized as follows : 

1. The continuation pupils will have the consciousness that they 
are sharing in the use of the best facilities offered by the community. 

2. The sense of social solidarity and of loyalty to the whole com- 
munity will be developed among all pupils of high-school age. 

3. The varied needs of continuation pupils can be more adequately 
met in the larger organization with its varied facilities. 

4. The comprehensive high school will be stimulated in its efforts 
to serve the needs of all pupils of high-school age. 

5. The community will be stimulated in gaining a broad concep- 
• tion of the function of the high school, and consequently will give it 

greater financial and moral support. 

6. A return to full-time education on the part of continuation 
pupils will be encouraged and be made natural and easy whenever 
circumstances permit. The very coordination of this department 
with the rest of the school will facilitate this return. 

2. THE EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES. 

The determination of educational objectives in this continuation 
group is of vital importance. Many children who barely finish the 
sixth grade with no desire to read would soon become illiterate if 
the State did not compel attendance in the continuation classes. We 
must conserve and extend the education already acquired. 

There is the financial gain that comes with increased industrial 
efficiency. This, however, can be easily overemphasized in the case 
of persons who are lacking in the rudimental knowledge of the duties 
and privileges of citizenship. In each case the needs of the indi- 
vidual must be considered, and groups formed so as to meet these 
individual needs. A study of community civic problems, current 
events, political and industrial history, practice in oral and written 
composition, contact with good reading, all of these are important 
and should result in better citizenship and should bring a finer and 
broader enjoyment of leisure. Such forms of mathematics as can 
be applied to the occupation, commercial geography with practical 
application, the rudiments of commercial law, business arithmetic, 
special drill in typewriting, free-hand and mechanical drawing, 
should be available according to the needs of the individual. 



18 PART-TIME EDUCATION OF VARIOUS TYPES. 

The work in the school should not merely duplicate the employ- 
ment experiences. It should interpret those experiences and should 
help the young worker to solve the problems arising therefrom. 

Since the working hours are becoming fewer, the leisure hours 
demand more than passing notice. To assume a negative attitude on 
the question of one's avocation is often to destroy one's efficiency in 
his vocation. To shorten the hours of labor without enriching the 
life of the laborer is to give him more hours in which to lower his 
vitality and morals. The misuse of the hours of leisure makes more 
criminals and loafers than do the hours of labor. Shall the hours of 
leisure promote enlightenment, culture, and progress, or promote de- 
generacy, depravity, and decay? The one encourages the beautiful 
in music, art, and literature ; the other seeks satisfaction in prize 
fights and the common vices. A great need in our changing social 
life is an equipment for the right use of leisure. 

The health needs of young workers, especially under modern in- 
dustrial conditions, can not safely be neglected. Few, if any, of 
these young workers know how to safeguard their health. Properly 
instructed they will demand sanitary working conditions and will 
cooperate with the intelligent employer who strives to protect his 
einployees and to increase their vigor and efficiency. The relation of 
posture to efficiency is a single illustration of the need for health 
intelligence. Then, too, tendencies to crooked spines, flat feet, and 
other defects must be detected through physical examinations, and 
corrective exercises must be prescribed. E-ecreational games are 
essential correctives for those engaged in many types of work and 
must be provided either in school or in recreation centers. 

No program for continuation education is adequate unless it gives 
careful consideration to each of the seven objectives set forth by this 
commission in its report entitled " Cardinal Principles of Secondary 
Education." These objectives are: Health; Command of funda- 
mental processes ; Worthy home membership ; Citizenship ; Vocation ; 
Worthy use of leisure ; Ethical character. 

To do justice to the vital needs of young workers as suggested by 
these objectives it is necessary that the minimum number of hours 
of attendance in continuation classes should be not less than 8 hours 
a week for each week that the high school is in session, or a require- 
ment of not less than 320 hours per year distributed over a reasonably 
long period of time during the year. 

The value of part-time instruction, if properly organized, is out of all propor- 
tion to the time involved, because it can utilize as a basis the new experiences 
of the young worker and his new social and civic contracts. Moreover, con- 
tinued attendance at school will afford an intellectual stimulus too often lacking 
to these young persons under the modern subdivision of labor. (Cardinal 
Principles of Secondary Education. ) 



PAET-TIME EDUCATIOlsr OF VARIOUS TYPES. 19 

A general movement seems to be going through the country to 
raise the limits of compulsory education. Thus, the period for 
continuation education is the time between the withdrawal from school 
and the age of 18 or the completion of a secondary school course. 
With the increased amount of instruction on general matters of Eng- 
lish, arithmetic, community civics, science, geography, and history 
that pupils may be expected to have acquired, doubtless the time of 
the older group will be devoted in a larger proportion to vocational 
education. In all continuation education we must not lose sight of 
the fact that increased production, better products, and more efficient 
workmen are not the only ends. Machines may be conceived, planned, 
and built which will double the output, improve the quality, and 
require but little repairing or adjusting. No progressive employer 
of labor thinks of his men only in terms of equipment or their labor 
in terms of horsepower. Materials and methods used in the con- 
tinuation school must, both in content and intent, be broad enough to 
include something more than the development and improvement of 
technical skill. We must stimulate in the youth a desire for good 
citizenship and the ability to find suitable enjoyment and wholesome 
profit in leisure hours. 

VI. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 

1. That all those types of part-time work which meet the needs of 
the community be incorporated into the high-school organization as 
early as possible. 

2. That a department of vocational guidance, including employ- 
ment supervision, be established in every high school. 

3. That the establishment of continuation education be made com- 
pulsory. 

4. That continuation attendance be made compulsory up to the 
age of 18, exception being made for those who have completed the 
secondary school course. 

5. That the continuation group be administered as a part of the 
high-school system. 

6. That attendance at continuation classes be required for not less 
than 8 hours a week or 320 hours a year. 

7. That continuation e'ducation be sufficiently comprehensive in 
scope to include all seven of the objectives set forth by this commis- 
sion. 

8. That attendance at continuation classes be in the day time and 
be counted in the legal hours at which minors may be employed. 

9. That in cities and towns having only one high school, the con- 
tinuation group be located in that high school. 

10. That in cities having more than one high school, the continua- 
tion group be located in that school, or those schools, whose location 
is favorable, instead of establishing separate continuation schools. 



APPENDIX A. 

TYPES OF PART-TIME EDUCATION RECOGNIZED BY FEDERAL 

ACT. 

In tlie provisions of the Federal act of February 23, 1917, three types of 
part-time schools or classes are clearly indicated : 

1. Schools or classes for those who have entered upon employment giving 
instruction in the trade or industrial pursuit in which they are employed. 
(Trade extension part-time schools or classes.) 

2. Schools or classes for those who have entered upon employment who 
wish to fit themselves for a trade or industrial pursuit other than that in 
which they are employed. (Trade preparatory part-time schools or classes.) 

3. Schools or classes giving subjects to enlarge civic and vocational intelli- 
gence, i. e., to extend general education or to help in the choice of a vocation. 
(General continuation part-time schools or classes.) See rulings given above 
for part-time instruction in other vocations than trade and industrial. 

The general characteristics of these three types of education are summarized 
in the chart. 

CHART OF DIFFERENCE AND SIMILARITIES IN THE THREE TYPES OF PART-TIME 

EDUCATION. 

Kind of School. 



Characteeistics. 


Trade Extension. 


Trade Preparatory. 


General CoNTiNtJi>TioN. 


ControUing purpose 


To supplement daily 
work. 


To prepare for a trade or 
industrial pursuit. 


To extend and supple- 
ment general educa- 
tion. 


Age of admission and 
maximum age. 


Entrance, 14 years; no 
maximum. 


Entrance, 14 years; no 
maximum. 


Entrance, 14 years. 


Necessary plant and 
equipment. 


Varies according to trade 
or industry; may he 
small in case work is 
related to subjects. 


Must approximate that 
used in industry. 


Usual classroom and lab- 
oratory manual train- 
ing. 








Variable. Least cost of 


nance. 






three types. 


Character and content of 
courses of study. 


Supplements daily 
.work: depends upon 
individuals. 


Experiences from voca- 
tions studied. 


Subjects to enlarge civic 
and vocational intelli- 
gence. 


Length of course.. 


Minimum, 144 hours a 
year. 


Minimum, 144 hours a 
year. 


Minimum, 144 hours a 




year. 


Qualifications of teachers. 


Master of trade or tech- 
nical subjects, or both. 


Master of trade or tech- 
nical subjects, or both. 


Teacher of experience in 
elementary or high 
school, with apprecia- 
tion of industry. 




To better fit for employ- 
ment in work now en- 
gaged in. 


To learn a trade while 
engaged in some other 
occupation. 


To add to general edu- 




cation. 



According to section 11 of the Federal act, at least one-third of the money 
apportioned to a State for the salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, 
20 



PAET-TIME EDUCATION OF VARIOUS TYPES. 21 

and industrial subjects must be expended, if at all, for part-time schools and 
classes; the act further provides that the subjects given must be to enlarge 
the civic or vocational intelligence of persons over 14 years of age who have 
entered upon employment. This is interpreted clearly to mean general con- 
tinuation school work as well as trade extension and trade preparatory work. 
Part-time education has been advocated in some form by the Federal Board for 
Vocational Education from its very inception. 

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were the first States to make laws providing 
for compulsory school attendance of children over 14 years of age, and these 
States passed these laws before the enactment of the Federal Vocational Edu- 
cation Act. 

Wisconsin passed the law in 1911. It provided that children who go to 
work between 14 and 16 years of age must attend school 4 hours a week. 
This law was amended at successive sessions of the legislature until it now 
requires employed children between the ages of 14 and 17 to attend continu- 
ation schools for not less than 8 hours per week. 

In 1913 Pennsylvania enacted a law that required the attendance of all 
children between 14 and 16 who are employed to attend school not less than 
8 hours a week. This does not apply to children " employed on the farm or in 
domestic service in private homes." 

Mr. Lewis H. Carris says : 

It is to be observed that these States present the widest variety of condi- 
tions as to population, conditions of industry, and education. As to population 
they vary from the most populous State in the Union, New Yoi'k, to Nevada, 
one of the least populous. It is evident that the problems of administration 
will vary in these two States to almost as great a degree of difference as is 
indicated by the ratio of population of these • States. Perhaps, howevei', not in 
the degree of difiiculty, since it may prove more difficult in fact to administer 
a State program of compulsory part-time schools in a sparsely settled com- 
munity than in a large city where large groups of children are to be taught. 
If the State board or State superintendent should be too lenient in the gi'anting 
of permission for the nonestablishment of compulsory part-time schools where 
such provision has been made, the acts would become practically permissive 
mandatory laws. 



APPENDIX B. 

SUMMARY OF LAWS IN THE 19 STATES THAT REQUIRE CONTIN- 
UATION EDUCATION. 

Probably no one phase of education has received more attention within so 
short time as comi)iilsory part-time scliools. Within two years 16 States enactetl 
compulsory part-time education for employed children over 14 years of age, 
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania having previously passed part-time education laws, 
and Massachusetts followed somewhat later. In eight of these States the 
compulsory period extends from 14 to 18, in nine States from 14 to 16, in one 
from 14 to 17, and in one from 16 to 18. 

The following data are taken from Bulletin 55 of the Federal Board of Voca- 
tional Education : 

Attendance in continuation schools. 



States. 



MinimnTTi 






number 
of minors 
required 


Ages of 
required 
attend- 


Hours a 

week 
required 


to estab- 


attend- 


lish 




ance. 


classes. 






15 


14-16 


5 


12 


14-18 


4 


20 


14-18 


8 


200 


14-16 


4 


50 


14-18 


8 


15 


14-16 


8 


25 


14^16 


4 


15 


14-18 


4 


15 


14-16 


8 


15 


14-18 


4 


20 


14-16 


6 


15 


14-16 


5 


20 


14-18 


4-8 


20 
15 


16-18 
14-18 




5 


30 


14-16 


8 


15 


14-18 


4 


15 


14-18 


4 


i') 


14-17 


8 



Length of 
school 
year. 



Law in 
effect. 



Arizona 

California i 

lUinois 

Iowa 

Massachusetts s 

Michigan 

Missouri _. .. 

Montana '. .. 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Jersey 

New Mexico 

New York 4 

Oklahoma 

Oregon s 

Pennsylvania... 

Utah 

"Washington e . . . 
Wisconsin 



150 hours 

(2) 
(') 
(^) 
(') 
C-) 

m 
n 

144 hours 

(') 
36 weeks 
150 hours 

(^) 
144 hours 

(2) 

0) 
144 hours 

(') . 
8 months 



1919 
1920 
1921 
1919 
1920 
1920 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1920 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1915 
1919 
1920 
1911 



1 High-school districts having 50 or more pupils must establish part-time classes. 

2 Same as public schools. 

3 Referendum adopted by all towns affected except one. 

4 EstabUshment required only in cities of over 5,000 population. 
6 Attendance upon evening school may be substituted. 

6 Districts may organize schools upon written request of 25 residents. 

22 



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